Medical marijuana has become an enormous scam

(mods - a bit ranty, a bit debate-ey, relocate thread as appropriate)

I think it’s pretty safe to say that historically, a significant portion (if not the main portion) the medical marijuana movement has been mostly about hyping up some real but minor benefits of marijuana as an approach to legalization, or at least easier availability, of pot.

I’ve always been deeply suspicious and annoyed at this, but not out of any love of prohibition. I think it should simply be ended and replaced with sensible but liberal regulation. By all means, permit doctors to prescribe cannabis just as they can prescribe aspirin or any OTC drug, but the decision to use should be in the hands of law-abiding citizens.

My thinking had always been that the outcome of medicalization of marijuana could only result in the permanent assignment of what ought to be a civil right to a medical establishment that is loth to give up control.

And so this was my grudging response to the tidal wave of “progressive” “medical marijuana” legislation sweeping over the states, leading to none other than the Republican-controlled House passing a bill proposing that the federal government respect individual states’ marijuana laws. Like, whoa. “OK, so it’s medical bullshit, but at least it’s a crack in the dam. Hey, even the Republicans are seeing reason.” I know, I know, I can be so adorably naive sometimes.

What’s really going on here? Well, it turns out, we’ve already seen it rear its head on the SDMB. Maybe you clocked it for what it was; I was a bit slower to catch on, until yesterday.

What happened? I was approached by an old high-school chum peddling a “business opportunity”. Yes, now you know where this is going. He’s going full gangbusters with a hemp product venture! It’s chock full of CBD (cannabidiol)! What? Even in this deep-red southern state that will secede before it legalizes weed? Yes! because CBD doesn’t get you high, it’s really only hemp oil and it cures every… ahem, we’re not legally allowed to say, but just Google up the “health benefits of CBD”, and try our sprays and vapes and lip balm chewing gum and pet products… and I can make sure you get in on this deal.

“And by the way, this opportunity is only going to grow, because CBD-oil-only laws are sweeping the nation!

That’s when the light bulb went off in my head, and I did do a little googling, and I realized what’s going on.

“Medical marijuana” has become largely synonymous with the CBD oil products business, a multi-billion dollar market of Burt’s Bees snake oil bullshit that threatens to subvert the cause of real medical benefit or legalization. Don’t misunderstand, I know pharmaceutical-grade CBD might be able to help some medical conditions. But what they’re selling is some shitty hemp paste in shitty hemp oil of entirely unknown contents.

And what does this ultimately to do liberalization efforts the next time you go to the legislature? “Hey, we graciously green-lit your CBD oil pyramid scheme out of our deep, deep regard for epileptic children, and now you ingrates actually want to legalize teh HIGH? Will your tiresome hippie pothead demands never end?”

So you hippie medical-marijuana bullshitters hoped for some kind bud from a friendly doctor, but now you’re going to get some shitty hemp paste suppositories from maniacal multi-level marketers. Enjoy that medical marijuana, dumbasses.

Of course the medical marijuana and hemp and related “industries” are largely scams intended to get around MJ laws. Just like export regulations on certain kinds of drugs are scams intended to get around capital punishment laws, and all kinds of associative efforts and laws are really anti-gay or anti-SSM or anti-abortion or something. When you can’t convince people on the main issues, find some tiny crack and keep levering at it. Welcome to high school debate as a political methodology.

The part that makes me mad is that there probably are some good medical uses for THC or other components of marijuana, but the current spate of medical marijuana laws, like any form of “herbal medicine”, are going to make it a lot harder to find those uses.

The nuance I was getting at, and probably did a poor job at stating up front, is that this thing has dramatically backfired. Legislators can hardly believe their luck… in an election year, they’re getting paid campaign contributions from large MJ-MLM companies for nothing more than making completely empty feint toward progressive marijuana policy. It sets back actual legalization by probably 10 more years in some places, and exposes us all to endless pitches for alternative-health pyramid schemes, and does absolutely nothing for legitimate patients or people who just want to use responsibly.

At the very least, I hope I’ve raised awareness on this issue… if CBD-oil only laws are proposed in your state, tell your representative it’s all about MLM and you’re not supporting it. If anybody comes to you pitching CBD-oil supplements, find out if it’s an MLM scheme (it probably is), publicly shame them for it, and direct them to this site which does one of several very good takedowns of the CBD scam.

I thought those non high products were being developed so children with serious health issues could use it? I don’t think it’s a big political conspiracy. Besides, the alternative med folks come out with a new wonder product every month.

**Medical marijuana has become an enormous scam **

Of course medical marijuana is a scam, it always has been.

The uninformed person might assume that there would be some sort of rigorous requirements to obtain a medical pot card. Some conditions that must be met. But… not really.

“Does your back sometimes hurt? Maybe have trouble falling asleep? Ask your doctor about marijuana. You’ll be glad you did!”

It is just that simple and there are doctors who are known as easy card providers. I have a friend who is a city cop who has told me that he wishes he could hand out business cards to go see Dr. Weed. Because citing people for pot in a medical marijuana state is just unfair.

Anyone can get a pot card, all you have to do is ask. Really, just ask your doctor, if he says no he may refer you to one who will.

I know several medical pot card holders, a couple of medical pot growers and providers, and there isn’t a damn thing medically wrong with any of us, I mean them.

I have to disagree here. AFAIK, before the advent the MMJ industry, the average user was unaware of any active ingredient other than THC, although it was certainly known that the effect of smoking different varieties could be correspondingly different. Usually that difference was thought to be nothing more than variations in how strong the pot was; any other perceived difference would be attributed to situational factors.

MMJ is generally sold as being Cannabis sativa, C. indica, or “hybrid”–a crossbred combination of the two, the key difference being that C. indica is longer on CBD than TCH, and tends to be more sedating, while C. sativa tends to be less so. IIRC most botanists still prefer to lump it all under C. sativa, the terminology remains useful in the marketplace, in the sense that the purchaser generally has a fairly good idea beforehand of what the effects will be.

I’d say the availability of numerous strains should be a boon to medical research.

Most doctors won’t prescribe medical mj. There is a good reason for this. If they want to prescribe regular pain killers like Vicodin, they need a registration with the DEA. If they prescribe pot, they will lose their national registration.

The doctors who will give out mj scripts mostly only do that and lord knows what predicament got them to that place in life. If you go to one of those docs, it’s damn near impossible not to get a card. Tell them you have back pain or migraines or insomnia and you’re good to go.

When medicinal mj first became legal in CA, it cost $250 to get a card. Now they can be had in Santa Barbara for $75 last I checked and even cheaper in L.A. or SF. I heard that they were twenty bucks and Hempfest and the lines were out the door.

I do agree with the general tone of the rant that it’s basically an unholy alliance of snake oil peddlers and prohibitionist politicians pushing these laws, but I’m not sure I really agree that they’re actually setting back the normal medical marijuana laws or the drive towards legalization in general.

Just from quick googling, it looks like Florida, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Georgia are the states that have passed CBD-only laws. I don’t think any of those states were even remotely likely to pass a traditional medical marijuana law anytime soon. I tend to think that if things go okay in Washington and Colorado, the medical marijuana fig leaf is no longer going to be necessary and as the tide of history changes over the long term most states are just going to go straight to legalization.

I’m glad the situation is so fortunate where you live. Where I and many others reside, it’s never going to be like that. Legislators will get campaign donations and progressive credentials for giving their blessing to the CBD-oil Amway scam, and they’ll never have to deal with any real marijuana-related bill for the rest of their political careers.

Not that it makes a difference to me personally, I can’t even smoke the stuff any more without getting sick. It makes me mad that the wrong people are getting the lion’s share of the benefit of these laws, and their deception is ironically possible because of the initial dishonesty of the original well-meaning but deluded pro-medical-MJ crowd.

“Become”?

It’s always been a scam.

Medical marijuana has never been anything other than a backdoor to legalizing recreational use of the drug. If its proponents were legitimately interested in medical use of the stuff, they’d be advocating for actual medical research into pharmacological cannabinoids, not demanding “prescriptions” of a plant grown in non-clinical conditions which delivers an unknown dose of an unknown number of unknown chemicals.

It’s gotten especially blatant in my home state now that the voters have also legalized recreational marijuana - the owners of the recreational stores are crying to the legislature that the medical dispensaries will undercut them because they don’t have to collect sales tax, and the medical dispensaries are upset about all the new “competition” for their supposedly pharmacological product.

You know what’s an even bigger scam? Prohibition of a fucking plant.

Personally I can take or leave MMJ. It’s a plant that adds to my quality of life, and regardless of government attempts to deny me access, I’m going to do whatever makes me happiest. If a workaround/scam helps some folks, I’m totally cool with it though.

[QUOTE=Smapti]
“Become”?

It’s always been a scam.
[/quote]

Of course you’re correct; I should have been more clear that it’s ceased to be a useful, well-intentioned deception that has become a useless out-and-out money grab.

[QUOTE=kayaker]
Personally I can take or leave MMJ. It’s a plant that adds to my quality of life, and regardless of government attempts to deny me access, I’m going to do whatever makes me happiest. If a workaround/scam helps some folks, I’m totally cool with it though.
[/quote]

Agreed, but the point I’m trying to make is that the if you’re concerned about folks being helped, then this is threatened by the intrusion of the CBD-oil-only/multi-level-marketing crowd.

See, that’s the thing. If you want recreational use to be legal, then lobby for legalization of recreational use. Don’t use a scam for something you can instead do legitimately.

I don’t see how this can be true, as the vast majority of products purchased from dispensaries under the cover of a MMJ card are of the high-inducing variety. The medical marijuana industry would collapse if none of their products got people high.

Meh. I wish recreational use were legal, but I think it’s just so bizarre that a plant would be illegal that if an easy scam works, what the hell.

Guess I lack the motivation to work for an ideal end.:D:cool:

Not in Oregon. Pretty much anybody can get an MMJ card. Observers have noted that a large percentage of people getting the stuff walk out of the “dispensary” and hand it off to someone else. The “medical” qualifier on pot is total bullshit, as it implies some sort of rigor on testing, control, dosage, etc. These places should be called licensed, not medical. Part of the new Oregon law (written by two lobbyists who are dispensary owners :smack: ) regarding MMJ is that customers can get up to 24 ounces of the stuff. Problem is, there is no statewide database (or requirement) to verify if someone has already gotten the legal amount, or when it was purchased. This used to be a problem in the pharmacy business, as well, but that has changed dramatically. Dispensaries are allowed to sell edibles, which are completely unregulated for production or contamination.

And remind me why someone smoking cannibis makes any difference at all in your life?

Well, clearly it can render people too damned lazy to read the thread they’re posting in, but other than that…

That sounds exactly the same as California.